According to History.com, to ward off ghosts that were returning to Earth for the night, the Celtics began a festival by wearing frightening costumes and lighting bonfires.
Although this is the ancient origin of Halloween, now it’s a holiday known for buying overpriced pop culture costumes and trick-or-treating for free candy.
According to a Statista survey that interviewed 7,419 American adults, 68% of respondents said they are planning to celebrate Halloween this year while the other 32% said they will not celebrate it.
Similarly to this survey, some students attending Pierce will not celebrate Halloween for personal or religious reasons.
One of Pierce College’s core values is, “Enrichment through cultural diversity,” but there is nothing culturally enriching about taping a witch decoration onto a wall.
This is why Pierce should not recognize Halloween as a holiday and avoid catering to celebrate it.
Other events on campus do give students the opportunity to learn about different cultures.
For example, the Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month celebration had traditional aguas frescas, such as horchata, to drink and to immerse students into the culture.
What do students learn from Halloween events on campus? How is receiving candy enriching?
If schools recognize Halloween as a holiday, then what’s to stop schools from recognizing other ludicrous festivities?
Imagine on Oct. 25 receiving breadsticks during class for National Breadstick Day or having the campus host a beer festival for National American Beer Day on Oct. 27.
These two holidays are real and if they sound ridiculous, then there is no reason to OK a holiday like Halloween on campuses.
Some holidays, overtime, stop being acknowledged.
For example, not everyone agrees with celebrating the infamous explorer on Columbus Day.
As a result, the Los Angeles City Council changed the name in 2017 to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Although some places do close for this holiday, Pierce continues to stay open.
If Pierce can deny a previously controversial event, then Pierce can end Halloween on campus.
Even if Pierce doesn’t host Halloween events, there are still so many other ways to celebrate Halloween outside of campus.
People can go to pumpkin patches, go to theme parks that are covered with eerie decor or go to a movie theater to watch a horror film.
Halloween doesn’t need to be celebrated on campus when there’s a variety of outlets that can fulfill the spooky spirit of the holiday.
Pierce should act as a safe space for students who don’t participate in festivities and avoid recognizing it.
